BREAKING: Trump invokes Alien Enemies Act to detain, deport Tren de Aragua members in US illegally

President Donald Trump has invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 in an effort to detain and deport all members of the Tren de Aragua gang who are in the United States illegally. This comes after the gang has been able to take root in a number of US states.

The White House released a statement on the presidential action, which reads: "I find and declare that TdA is perpetrating, attempting, and threatening an invasion or predatory incursion against the territory of the United States. TdA is undertaking hostile actions and conducting irregular warfare against the territory of the United States both directly and at the direction, clandestine or otherwise, of the Maduro regime in Venezuela. I make these findings using the full extent of my authority to conduct the Nation’s foreign affairs under the Constitution."

The release added, "Based on these findings, and by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including 50 U.S.C. 21, I proclaim that all Venezuelan citizens 14 years of age or older who are members of TdA, are within the United States, and are not actually naturalized or lawful permanent residents of the United States are liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured, and removed as Alien Enemies. I further find and declare that all such members of TdA are, by virtue of their membership in that organization, chargeable with actual hostility against the United States and are therefore ineligible for the benefits of 50 U.S.C. 22. I further find and declare that all such members of TdA are a danger to the public peace or safety of the United States."

Trump announcing the act’s invocation comes after a federal judge blocked the deportations of five suspected TdA members. The individuals have denied the accusations. The five Venezuelan citizens were detained based on immigration status and were ordered to be deported by the Trump administration, but Democracy Forward and the ACLU filed a lawsuit on their behalf.

US District Judge James Boasberg issued the order on Saturday, citing “exigent circumstances” just hours before Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act. Boasberg also called for a hearing to address the lawsuit’s broader efforts to protect other illegal immigrants who may be targeted under Trump’s invocation of the act, Politico reported.

The lawyers representing the five suspected TdA members suggested that Trump invoking the act could put “countless Venezuelans” at “imminent risk of deportation without any hearing or meaningful review.”

Trump has declared Tren de Aragua as well as other gangs and cartel organizations as terrorist organizations in the eyes of the United States.